Councillor Mackay is appointed to Grizfest Committee, Councillor Torraville is alternate.

Question about internet at Senior Centre. Chuck Jensen is not here so he can’t confirm, but PRiS has been contacted and they are supposed to be hooking it up soon, says Mr. Elliott.

Ice dams at Community Centre: Mr. Elliott spoke with Ken Klikach, who wanted to make sure they were installed correctly. Will report back.

Discussion items

Councillor Caisley has requested discussion and review of the attached proposal dated September 2012 from UNBC Community Development Institute (CDI) titled Tumbler Ridge Sustainability Plan: For the Town, its People, and the Economy.

Sustainability was the number one priority that came out of the Strategic Planning Session, says Councillor Caisley. This proposal is from the Community Development Institute at UNBC, who have done lots of work in Tumbler Ridge previously.

Councillor Mackay asks if this would be duplicating work that’s already been done? He attended themeeting of Northern Municipalities and lots of this work has been done. What’s not done is the current community profile. He suggests looking at the other studies before moving forward on this.

Councillor Caisley says the people working on this are the ones who worked on those studies. It wouldn’t be reinventing the wheel, but it would be a matter of bringing it all together, combining information, and bringing it forward.

Mayor Wren says ten years ago, homes were $20,000 or $30,000. Now, people are paying $200,000 or $300,000. “We need to take steps now to protect people’s investments,” he says. “We need to minimize risk for business people who might be looking to invest in the town.”

TR Days Society Discussion

Councillor Caisley: At the last meeting there was a request from the TR Days Society, I had marked down they needed an answer by the end of this month. I believe we left them with the opinion that we were going to get back to them by then. I was wondering if it was in order to ensure that we get the answer to them by the end of this Regular Meeting. Mr. Elliott says he will do what he can to pull that together.

Regular Meeting of Council

Petitions and Delegations

Royal Canadian Legion

Jim Cullen, President of the Royal Canadian Legion Branch 286, requested Council declare the week from November 5 – November 12, 2012 as Veterans Week and that the street from the Tumbler Ridge Legion to the Tumbler Ridge Secondary School be closed November 11, 2012 from about 10:15 am to noon for the Remembrance Day service. This is done.

Northern Environmental Action Team

Jen Slater, from Northern Environmental Action Team (NEAT), appeared before Council to discuss NEAT’s role in our community and how they can assist the District of Tumbler Ridge. “Our presence in Tumbler Ridge has been minimal,” says Slater. “NEAT started in Fort St. John to encourage waste reduction. We now have a large staff, with eco-advisors in Fort Nelson, Fort St John, Dawson Creek, and Chetwynd.”

NEAT has contracts with Fort St. John, Dawson Creek and Chetwynd to promote water reduction.

All NEAT’s outreach programs are completely free. They do school programs. The PRRD is NEAT’s biggest funder.

An issue NEAT is working on, say Slater, is sustainability and the shadow population. “One of the problems in Chetwynd is the transient workforce. They’re not really focused on sustainability in our community. We thought people might not be using recycling bins because it might be too much of a hassle. We got funding from Encana to distribute blue bins to a bunch of apartments in Chetwynd, which are now getting high usage.” Slater says they are thinking about expanding the program to all multi-residential properties in the South Peace, including Tumbler Ridge.

Slater says NEAT would like to have a bigger presence in Tumbler Ridge, and offers the District to help with anything around NEAT’s core services. “We came here a few weeks ago to promote the LiveSmart program to do an energy assessment and put together a report that tells business owners about incentive programs.”

Slater points out this week is waste reduction week, and NEAT is doing a car seat collection for old car seats and making sure they get recycled for free. At other times of the year, NEAT does tire and hazardous household waste roundups.

“We even have a program where you can bring in your old Christmas lights and get a box of LED lights to replace them.”

There are plenty of programs and plenty of things we can offer the district.

Coastal Gaslink Pipeline Ltd.

Joe Zhou, Project Manager for TransCanada’s Coastal GasLink Pipeline Project, providing Council with an informational presentation on the proposed Coastal GasLink Pipeline Project. TransCanada had an open house community meeting at the Trend Mountain Conference Centre. For more information on the project and presentation, see story elsewhere in this issue.

Correspondence

Teck Resources Limited

Council received correspondence dated September 20, 2012 from Senior Vice President, Sustainability and External Affairs for Teck Resources Limited, sharing launch details of their social media campaign that will coincide with Free the Children’s We Day events across Canada.

City Of Terrace

Correspondence dated September 26, 2012 from the Mayor of the City of Terrace, inviting Council to the Minerals North 2013 Conference in Terrace, BC, April 24 – 26, 2013. Councillor Caisley says it would probably be a good idea for the mayor or a delegate to attend the conference. He makes a motion to this effect, which passes.

Band Together BC

Correspondence dated October 1, 2012 from the Campaign Organizer, providing Council with information on a clean energy campaign called Band Together BC and encouraging Council to sign a statement of support.

Ministry of Children and Family Development

Correspondence dated October 1, 2012 from the Minister of Children and Family Development, announcing October has been proclaimed as Foster Family Month.

BYLAWS

Bylaw 594 – Subdivision and Development Servicing Bylaw

Motion is made to give final reading to bylaw. The mayor asks if this bylaw has any say over parking stalls. Mr. Elliott responds that no, those are in the Zoning Bylaw. The mayor asks if a new subdivision is built, it appears that the developers will have to dig up the road to put services (water, power, sewar) in, according to this bylaw. “It troubles me that this is going in without the discretion to find another route. To tear up a perfectly good road when there are alternatives available is troubling.” Mr Friessenhen explains that there is an opportunity to move a line at the discretion of the director of engineering. There are a number of factors that affect how services are routed.

Council deferred final reading to District of Tumbler Ridge Subdivision and Development Servicing Bylaw so these questions could be answered.

BYLAW 595 – PERMISSIVE TAX EXEMPTION BYLAW

Council gave final reading to District of Tumbler Ridge Permissive Tax Exemption Bylaw.

New Business

MURRAY RIVER BOAT LAUNCH REPAIRS

Report dated October 12, 2012, from the Chief Administrative Officer titled “Murray River Boat Launch Repairs” requesting Council receive the attached report for discussion. Discussion does ensue. Councillor Caisley says “My point here is we’re not doing any repair to the cement blocks, we’re just removing them and putting them in a secure location so that people don’t have to worry about damage to their tires. It is a safety hazard for people and families, with a loss of economic development from people coming to see Kinuseo Falls. We’re not doing anything to change the river. We’re ensuring people can visit Tumbler Ridge without damaging their tires. Something’s run amuck with bureaucracy when you can do a simple repair like this.”

Councillor Snyder proposes they close the launch until the repairs are done, or at least put up a sign.

Mayor Wren says this is not new. “If this has been identified as a public safety hazard, then I want it fixed. Clearly this has been identified as a safety hazard. Under the community charter, we have an identified risk. I say we remove the blocks and notify them we have removed the safety hazard.”

Mr. Elliott explains, first the notification of any work done on the river has to be forwarded to the agencies involved first. To do otherwise would be in contravention. I can move this forward tomorrow.

Mayor Wren says yes, this should be done tomorrow. He tells Mr. Elliott to say that we can fix it tomorrow, if they give us approval.

Councillor Mackay points out that right now there’s two feet of water. In springtime, it will be under seven or eight feet of water, so getting things done now would be best. Councillor Beale cautions there are hefty fines when you work illegally around water. Councillor Caisley says: “let’s find out what the fines are.” Councillor Snyder asks if the boat launch is owned by the District of Tumbler Ridge or the PRRD. Councillor Mackay says that it was PRRD who put it in. “About a year ago, there was a request to find out if they could repair it.” He doesn’t know what became of that request, but notes it wasn’t repaired.

Camp Facility Request

Council rejected the request made by Northern Lands Development Corporation for the placement of an eight to 16 person temporary work camp on their property located at 100 Southgate from November 1, 2012 to October 31, 2013. In doing so, Councillor Caisley notes it sets a bad precedence, when the district is trying to encourage workers who are being hired on to come live here. Mayor Wren points out Council does have the authority to grant temporary use permits, which this is. Councillor Mackay says he is not in favour of opening up little quasi-camps around town, especially when, as Councillor Beale points out, there is a camp in town already, which is under-utilized.

Audit RFP and Auditor Appointment 2012

Council declared KPMG LLP Chartered Accountants from Prince George as the successful bidder for professional external audit services for 2012 – 2014, with a term extension of two years upon mutual agreement, and Council appointed KPMG LLP Chartered Accountants from Prince George as the District auditors for 2012.

Community Centre Concession

Councillor Snyder recuses himself from the discussions, as he is a member of the Lion’s club. Council approve the bid from the Tumbler Ridge Lions to operate the Community Centre downstairs concession for a 12 month term effective November 15, 2012 with ten percent of the net proceeds paid to the District of Tumbler Ridge in rent. In the discussions, Councillor Caisley asks if there is a need to take ten percent, since all the funds raised by the Lions eventually find their way back into the District anyway. Councillor Beale points out that there is wear-and-tear on the facility. The bid is approved, though Mayor Wren says if future discussion on the rent is warranted, it will be discussed.

Grizfest Recommendation

A motion is made to approve something, though it is an on-table motion and not read aloud, nor is it distributed to the press, which is why it isn’t in the paper. The motion is passed, though not without discussion. There is a line (apparently) in the motion about two beer gardens, which Councillor Beale is not in favour of. Mayor Wren says he interprets the two beer gardens as one beer garden, two days.

Notice of Motion

Councillor Caisley moves that the CDI Proposal discussed in the Policies and Priorities meeting be accepted, with Council approving funding for phase one and the first year of phase two. Mayor Wren points out that Council has $20,000 budgeted in the Sustainability budget. “If we were to approve this, the money would have to be re-allocated from elsewhere. I would recommend that we approve Phase one, and then we can pre-approve the funding for next year’s budgeting year.” Councillor Caisley points out that so many of the things in phase two have to happen before phase one, so best get them working on both. Miss Laporte points out that there’s nothing stopping Council from doing a pre-approval to add this to next year’s budget tonight. Motion is passed.